The Charge

Suzanne [Boarding a plane]: "Where are our seats?" Julia:
"I don't know. If history teaches us anything, mine will be next to a baby
who smokes."

The Case

Hot on the heels of the release of Designing Women: The Complete First
Season, comes the second year of the show from Shout! Factory. The sophomore
batch of episodes carried on the same tone and tradition established in the
initial run. It centers on two sisters named Julia (Dixie Carter, Desperate
Housewives) and Suzanne (Delta Burke, Delta) Sugarbaker who have
launched an interior design firm in Atlanta, despite being polar opposites
personally and professionally. Suzanne is a materialistic ex-beauty queen, while
Julia is a no-nonsense business lady who is tough as nails. Running the Atlanta
firm with them are a down to earth designer named Mary Jo (Annie Potts, Ghost
Busters) and a sweet but ditzy office manager Charlene (Jean Smart,
24). The only difference in this next season is that Meshach Taylor
(Mannequin) becomes a series regular as Anthony the ex-con, offering a
male voice now and then, and we see more of Bernice Clifton played by Alice
Ghostley (Grease).

What made Designing Women such a great series was the idea of
inverting what the general public thought of stereotypical Southern women. Girls
from below the Mason-Dixon Line had a long tradition of being over-sexed,
romance-addicted drama queens, simpletons, or whores with a heart of gold. The
gals of Sugarbaker Designs were smart, sassy, resourceful, and outspoken, and it
was due to the vision of creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. The mission of the
show was to reinvent women as concerned with femininity as they were poltically
and morally savvy. The second year includes a watershed moment called
"Killing All the Right People," a poignant episode revolving around a
designer dying of AIDS. Designing Women was never scared to tackle touchy
subjects in its own sweet, gentle way. It always handled topics tastefully and
with respect, although the tough-to-talk-about came sometimes too
frequently.

Just like the first set Designing Women: The Complete Second Season
contains four single sided DVDs with twenty-two episodes, which originally aired
between September of 1987 and March of 1988. Each show is full screen, and the
picture has a decidedly '80s television feel with plenty of grain and general
softness. It's not crisp, and quality is not far above video standards. Yet this
is the first time anybody is releasing full seasons of the show, so fans will be
excited simply to have these outside of syndication airings. Audio is a simple
two channel mono mix which sometimes sounds more stereo when the music kicks in.
There are no extras this time around, although a nice episode guide is included
to tell you original air date, writer, director, synopsis, and a list of guest
stars. It's pretty bare bones, but at least the episodes are intact. There is
also a promise in the guide that seasons three and four are coming soon.
Designing Women: The Complete Second Season gives viewers and collectors a
chance to see a year where the program matured and fell in to its signature
rythm. There aren't any extras, but the bonus is simply having these episodes
finally on DVD.

The Verdict

Guilty of redesigning the idea of what Southern women on television could
talk about.

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